Breaking the year-long global trend of declining Bitcoin ATMs (BTC) and cryptocurrencies, May saw a strong rise, with nearly 1,400 net installs.
The total number of cryptocurrency ATMs decreased steadily in the first four months of 2023. During this period, major economies such as the United States contributed to the decline in numbers, but Australia, Poland and Spain increased ATM installations of cryptocurrencies.
The graph above shows that in the first four months of 2023, net cryptocurrency ATMs worldwide decreased by 5,850. In May, however, 1,397 machines were added back to the global network of cryptocurrency ATMs, confirming the data from Coin ATM Radar.
Although Bitcoin ATMs do not contribute to the growth of the Bitcoin network, they do serve as a physical gateway for people to exchange their fiat currencies for crypto. In 2023 alone, Australia installed a total of 233 ATMs, climbing the ranks to become the third largest cryptocurrency ATM hub in the world.
Despite the one-year decline, the United States maintains a leading position, accounting for 84.7% of crypto ATMs worldwide, followed by Canada at 7.6%.
At the time of writing these lines, 35,069 ATMs are still in operation around the world. Recently, a hacker gained access to sensitive information from Bitcoin ATM maker General Bytes, including passwords, private keys, and funds.
On March 17-18th, 2023, GENERAL BYTES experienced a security incident.
We released a statement urging customers to take immediate action to protect their personal information.
We urge all our customers to take immediate action to protect their funds and https://t.co/fajc61lcwR…
— GENERAL BYTES (@generalbytes) March 18, 2023
“We have taken immediate steps to prevent further unauthorized access to our systems and are working tirelessly to protect our customers,” General Bytes said in its statement.
As Cointelegraph previously reported, the hacker managed to drain at least 56 BTC and 21.82 Ether (ETH). To avoid a similar situation in the future, the company advised its operators and customers to migrate to a self-hosted server installation, which can be secured by a virtual private network.
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